Seaside is the latest in a string of peninsula cities allowing Hero to come in and give homeowners access to funding for energy-efficient upgrades.

The Hero program works as a private public partnership. The private entity gets permission to come into towns and offer energy-efficient upgrade loans with no upfront cost.

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"My thoughts were this is wonderful, it's a win-win situation on many fronts," said Seaside City Councilor Dennis Alexander about Hero.

Hero funding helps people put in things like solar panels, energy-efficient water devices, and water-catch systems.

Homeowners in Hero communities apply online at the Hero site, heroprogram.com, for loans to do energy-efficient upgrades, and the way the loan is paid back is through property taxes.

Hero spokeswoman Leah Rowell said the loans have a fixed interest rate of between 6.75 percent and 8.35 percent depending on the loan. While the city approves Hero to come into town, it is not on the hook for any of the costs.

Getting approval for it is all based on their home's worth.

"Unlike other loan applications, their credit score doesn't matter, it is really based on the amount of equity they have in their homes," said Rowell.

The city of Pacific Grove's housing coordinator, Terri Schaeffer, said this makes all the difference in the world to people who have difficulty getting funding.

"It's the folks that have been in their homes for a long time that want to make improvements, so this gives them another funding source that they can access to actually put sustainable features in their homes," said Schaeffer.

The loan is paid back through property taxes, where the payment is tacked on. If the homeowner sells the house, the loan stays on the tax tab to be paid by the buyer.

Cities on the peninsula hope this will be a way to conserve the area's most precious resource, water.

"Shower heads, low-flow toilet devices, many other ways, water-catch systems, are ways to save water, and right now from what I am gathering, a majority of homes don't have those devices," said Alexander.

Pacific Grove launched its Hero program on June 10th and is now working on getting contractors ready to install the upgrades.

Hero certifies contractors through a training program. One will be held in Monterey on July 21 and another in Santa Cruz on July 22.

Monterey, Carmel by the Sea, Del Rey Oaks and unincorporated Monterey County have all already signed on with Hero.